1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag device for a front passenger seat adapted to be mounted on an instrument panel of a vehicle in front of the front passenger seat. More particularly, the invention relates to an airbag device for a front passenger seat including an airbag which is housed in a housing in a folded-up configuration and deployable rearward for protecting a passenger when fed with an inflation gas.
2. Description of Related Art
WO 2016/002384 A1 discloses a known airbag device for a front passenger seat whose airbag includes a main inflatable section which is deployable towards a front passenger seat, a center bag section which is deployable on an inboard side of the main inflatable section, and a tether belt which connects the top plane of the main inflatable section and the top plane of the center bag section. The airbag further includes a slit between the main inflatable section and the center bag section for receiving the head of a passenger as he moves diagonally forward in the event of an oblique collision or an offset collision, etc. The tether belt is connected, by the first end, to a rear portion of the center bag section, more specifically, to a region of the center bag section located farther rearward than the slit. The tether belt helps restrain a movement of the main inflatable section and the center bag section after the airbag has caught the passenger's head by the slit.
In the above known airbag device, the tether belt is formed into a band, and the first end of the tether belt is connected to the top plane of the rear portion of the center bag section. With this configuration, if the passenger's head is brought into contact with a region of the center bag section located farther forward than a joint of the tether belt to the center bag section, the center bag section pushed by the head is liable to bulge outwardly partially and fail to guide the head into the slit smoothly, especially when, by way of example, the passenger moves diagonally forward at a high speed.